Rocacorba Daily

Tuesday January 21, 2014

Curated by Matt de Neef - January 21, 2014

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In this morning’s edition of the Rocacorba Daily: Phil Gaimon wins stage 1 of the Tour de San Luis; Amanda Spratt wins Santos Women’s Cup road race; Chris Sutton out of Tour Down Under with wrist fracture, Earle in; Cadel Evans sympathises with Alessandro Ballan; UCI appoints Team GB bike designer to review equipment regulations; Successful surgery for Giovanni Visconti; In response to criticisms of the make-up of Team UniSA; Win a ride in the Europcar team car at the Tour Down Under; Why We Play - Evelyn Stevens profile interview.

Phil Gaimon wins stage 1 of the Tour de San Luis

Phil Gaimon (Garmin-Sharp) has started his WorldTour career in perfect fashion, winning the opening stage of the Tour de San Luis in Argentina from a solo breakaway.

@philgaimon you're winning percentage can only go down from here. Nice way to introduce yourself to the World Tour. #TourdeSanLuis

Amanda Spratt wins Santos Women’s Cup road race

Amanda Spratt soloed to victory in stage 2 of the Santos Women’s Cup yesterday after launching a powerful attack at the base of Menglers Hill.

Image: Orica-GreenEDGE

The perfectly-timed punch distanced her two breakaway companions (Taryn Heather and Rebecca Heath) and afforded Spratt an unassailable gap en route to victory in Angaston.

Spratt’s Orica-AIS teammate (who’s registered as an individual in the Santos Women’s Cup) Valentina Scandolara proved best of the rest, crossing the line in second place ahead of Jo Hogan (Boss Racing). Overnight race leader Loes Gunnewijk (Orica-AIS, registered as an individual too) managed second in the bunch kick, seventh place on the stage, to hold on to the series lead.

“I’m pretty excited,” said Spratt. “It was a great day for the team. We played things perfectly in the end with the numbers we had. We can all walk away knowing we put everything out there for the team today.”

The Santos Women’s Cup finishes this evening with a hotdog crit on the streets of Prospect.

Chris Sutton out of Tour Down Under with wrist fracture; Earle in

Team Sky sprinter Chris Sutton has been forced out of the Tour Down Under after fracturing his wrist in a crash during the People’s Choice Classic on Sunday evening.

“It’s a massive blow not to be continuing on with the lads because they did an incredible job for me. My groin and my knee were pretty sore in the race but it was only afterwards, on the way back to the hotel, that my wrist started hurting and I couldn’t grip the handlebars,” Sutton said in a Sky press release.

“I’m trying to stay upbeat and looking forward to the Tour of Qatar now. That should be my first race back and I’ll have a week or so on the turbo before getting myself back on the road.”

Nathan Earle will replace Sutton in Sky’s Tour Down Under line-up, making it the first WorldTour race for the Tasmanian Sky signee.

Cadel Evans sympathises with Alessandro Ballan

Cadel Evans has expressed sympathy for the plight of his now-former teammate Alessandro Ballan who was handed a two-year ban by CONI for alleged doping offences.

Ballan insists that he underwent ozone therapy, a treatment banned by WADA, to help his recovery from cytomegalovirus, rather than for any performance gains.

Evans told Fox Sports:

“The only things that appears to me that we must be the only profession in the world where for looking after your health and trying to be healthy you can ruin your career and all but ruin your life.”

Evans continued:

“Having had a virus myself, at a certain point you have to be healthy. That’s not whether you are a bike rider or not, that’s just human. The two most important things in our life are our health and then everything else.”

UCI appoints Team GB bike designer to review equipment regulations

The man who designed Team Great Britain’s Olympic track bikes, composites engineer Dimitris Katsanis, has been appointed as a consultant to the UCI’s Equipment Commission to review the sport’s bike design regulations.

In announcing Katsanis’ appointment, UCI president Brian Cookson said he was keen to see innovation reintroduced into bike design.

“The UCI is in the process of modernising its technical rules and Mr Katsanis will be able to give us first-class assistance with this.

“We absolutely must ensure fair and safe competition but our regulations should not be rigid to the point of not allowing any technological development. It is a fine line and we are determined to get it right.”

Successful surgery for Giovanni Visconti

Movistar’s Giovanni Visconti underwent surgery at the Royal Adelaide Hospital yesterday to treat a compound fracture in his right tibia after crashing in the People’s Choice Classic on Sunday.

Image: Team Movistar

The surgery lasted roughly an hour and saw a rod inserted into Visconti’s leg to stabilise the fracture for healing.

Visconti will stay in hospital for three days before being released and flying back to Europe next week with the rest of his teammates at the end of the Tour Down Under. Visconti is expected to be off the bike for at least five weeks.

Text via Movistar press release.

In response to criticisms of the make-up of Team UniSA

Yesterday we shared a story by Belinda Hoare who wrote at Cycling Central that she thought the selection process for the UniSA/Australian national team at the Tour Down Under was unfair.

As an update we thought it might be worth sharing this response from Avanti rider and CyclingTips contributor Jono Lovelock.

It’s a biting but respectful retort to Hoare’s position and it shows an interesting insight into the system from someone who’s ridden on Continental squads and on Australian national representative teams.

Win a ride in the Europcar team car at the Tour Down Under

Ever watched a bike race from a team car? It’s the most thrilling place to see the race unfold and if we had our way, everyone would get a chance to see a race this way.

We’ve arranged for one VIP guest to join team Europcar in the race convoy for Stage 4 of the TDU, on Friday January 24.

To enter, simply fill in your details here. We’ll draw one name at random on Wednesday and give that person a call to confirm the prize.

Why We Play: Evelyn Stevens profile interview

This short profile documentary on Specialized-Lululemon rider Evelyn Stevens is beautifully shot and put together. It covers Stevens’ journey from Wall Street to becoming a professional cyclist whose wins include multiple US ITT championships, Fleche Wallone, the Exergy Tour and the Route de France.

The Rocacorba Recap

And finally this morning, here are a few things you might have missed here at CyclingTips over the past day or so:

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Great documentary on Evelyn Stevens – clear example that happiness outweighs money and that riding a bike brings that happiness. I can relate to this.

Tricky Dicky

Loving Jono’s dummy-spit on Cycling Central… but it is an important issue for the development of Australian cycling.
The WT status for the TdU is both a blessing and a curse. I would love it if one or two of the top NRS teams for the year got a spot in their own right and then there could be a composite team for individuals who have recently performed outstandingly well (eg. Chris Jory’s ride in the Nationals (sorry, my MWCC bias shining through there…)). The revival of the Sun Tour might go some way to mitigating against this issue but it does seem a shame that the cycling world’s focus is (mostly) on Austraia at this time of year and yet the domestic talent cannot really show itself. Compare this with the lower-ranked Tour de San Luis which has a blend of (arguably) bigger names and domestic talent. Which is the better model for the “globalisation” of the sport?

jules

i think the debate over the TDU not allowing local talent to shine is a bit fabricated. it’s a World Tour race, for WT teams. the guys on the UniSA team are among the best locals, who stand a chance of keeping up.

while i also enjoyed Jono’s rebuttal, and he’s always entertaining and thoughtful, i’m sure he wouldn’t mind me pointing out that he is of course – also on the Avanti team list. i follow the sport enough to know that those guys are among the cream of local talent, but pointing that out alone doesn’t address the issue of transparency that Belinda was raising.

Dave

I think it’s a good thing to have a composite national team in the TDU. I also agree with Belinda that it needs to be a proper composite team with a minimum of three different local teams represented.

If Avanti want a place at the TDU they should do it the proper way – apply for a Professional Continental license allowing entry to WorldTour events – instead of leaning on the national team selectors.

Ash C

Who would you drop to make way for Kauffmann and Carpenter?
If the other NRS teams had signed and developed better riders (remember how many riders this team has developed to gain Pro contracts) then Avanti wouldn’t have such a large representation.
And why wouldn’t Avanti push the case for their riders to be selected to ride in a World Tour race?

This has been a bug bear of mine for years. Have a chat to Michael Drapac about it if you really want to dig.

What I will not allow, however, is that line of argument to extend to insinuations about my team that are completely wrong.

It suggests unethical behavour by management and it suggests those who earnt their spots were undeserving.

Have a read of Al Hinds’ piece today, and it’s simple, who would you take out to fit in those who came close?

And as Al said to me last night, if those five rides had different coloured jerseys on, none of this fuss would have arisen.

Not to mention the idea that people on continental teams are “well resourced” and have a “wealth of oppurtunites.”

Simple research would reveal otherwise. Did she speak to any NRS riders? ….

The bigger issue is with Cyclng Central giving the platform when they knew the ‘opinion’ was riddled with a number of factual errors.

But at the end of the day, shit happens. Everyone has opinions, sometimes people get riled up. Sometiimes people don’t. I got riled up. I don’t regret it for one second.

I’ll buy Belinda a beer when she’s in Melbourne next and do my best to convince her I’m not a complete arsehole.

Andy Logan

I find it interesting that a lot of people where keen for Jory to ride, however what about Kaufman? 10th in the ITT, two podiums in two big races, surely he would of been more of a candidate than Jory?

Kaufman has had better results no?

Personally I don’t see the issue, Avanti have been very consistent all year and people like Haig deserve a spot. He won the NRS after all.

dummy spit

Jono made some good points which Belinda happily would be willing to discuss with him, so why did he have to get so personal. Utter shame

RichD75

I agree completely – not sure who this guy is but all he did was to show that he is not able to comment on merit or facts but just attack another person – shameful

Pretty sure Jono is entitled to express his opinion, not to mention that the guy’s one of the foremost cycling writers in Australia, he knows his stuff.

http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips

Don’t let that go to your head Jono. This doesn’t mean you’re getting a raise either ;-)

Abdu

+1
Sheez, someone in the media expresses a strong opinion, and does it well, and a people get their panties twisted. Pah! And I thought the Giro was cock for the way they select their wildcard teams…

Sean

Johnathon Longhorn is a story teller like Belinda, he usually spins a good yarn on here and some other cycling websites out on the internets.

dcaspira

Evans nailed it. Surely this line between health and performance is moving to ugly, health 1st. Tough stuff moving forward.

jules

it’s not that straightforward. they tried that approach with cortisone, i.e. therapeutic exemptions, and it was clearly abused for performance enhancement.

dcaspira

I agree, incredible amount of grey – especially when considering people’s livelihood & commercial interests are on the line

Cynic

Huh? He got herpes, that’s what that virus is.
He’s been riding a long time, and most probably not pan e agua either. Plenty of athletes everywhere have to face a similar conundrum, but don’t cheat. They get out.

echidna_sg

perhaps a system that allows for voluntary, up-front “I’m going to take substance X to treat condition Y and will not race or train for a period of Z” could be instituted where specific hospitals/doctors varify the diagnosis prior to treatment?

Paolo

If they complain about the UNISa team its probably best to not allow local teams in a WT race, like in all other WT races (apart from China). Problem solved. You don’t want to see a team of french amateurs in Le Tour either. If riders want a start in TDU they should start getting better results and get a contract with a WT team. If they can’t, they are obviously not good enough anyway. There’s no free lunch in pro cycling.

Tim

I find it funny how Ballans banned for 2 years for something in 2009. Thats not how that works surely? Contador got less….then again Armstrong got more. Theres no consistency.

Dave

The difference compared to Contador would come down to the differing approaches of the Spanish and Italian authorities, and then in particular the Spanish authorites’ special treatment of Contador which goes right back to Operacion Puerto.

I don’t think Ballan ever got a provisional ban along the way though, so having the clock start now is fair.

Notso Swift

He was suspended by BMC for 6 months though, only to have the case not progress, then re-instated, then the case re-open. So surely the bench time should have been counted?

Dave

No, a team choosing of their own free will to not select a rider for races should not be confused with a suspension by an anti-doping authority.

It’s absurd as an AFL player getting a suspension from the tribunal and then asking to play the next week because once upon a time in a previous season he’d missed a couple of matches through injury or non-selection.

Neil_Robinson

I hope Scott Sunderland makes tomorrow’s Rocacorba. He just became the first Australian to crack one minute for the Track ITT (Kilo), stopping hte clock at 59.675 and finally surpassing Shane Kelly’s record.

This is on the back of being part of the Team Pursuit squad who took gold.

Dave

This will surely be controversial, but I don’t think Caleb Ewan should have been selected for UniSA. The big benefit for the UniSA team is to get riders into the attention of the professional teams, and Ewan doesn’t need that help when he’s already got an OGE contract in the bag.

ed-sydney

Agree with you. He is a great talent & there is no need to rush his development.

Abdu

Gutsy and effective, but looked like a kid when the big boys lit up their turbo’s on Sunday. It was like watching a 2 litre against a big block V8 the other day. Good that he didn’t mouth off afterwards from what I saw either, big big future.

markpa

Should UniSA just take the top 7 from the NRS individual rankings who are available?
Would it have made much difference to the composition?
Jack Haig was no. 1, but can’t recall remainder and http://nationalroadseries.subaru.com.au/rankings/ is particularly unhelpful.
Would certainly provide incentive for all teams towards last half of NRS if team and no. 1 individual ranking are sewn up.
I certainly wouldn’t call it Avanti getting a backdoor entry – their results have earnt recognition. Especially with Drapac already riding they’re bound to have large share of riders who are deserving.

“Phil Gaimon (Garmin-Sharp) has started his WorldTour career in perfect fashion”
No he didn’t this is a 2.1 not WT :-)
Just because random tweeters make mistakes doesn’t mean you guys need to

http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips

We were talking about being on his first WorldTour team, not about the race. But technically you’re correct. Fully aware that TSL isn’t WorldTour.

scottmanning

Why did the Orica-AIS Women register as individulas, and not as part of the team? Was it a monetary thing; the team didn’t have the funds, or a team numbers thing; not enough slots for them??? Seems like a very stange thing to me given they probably rode as a team regardless.

Dave

Only five riders per team allowed, the other four registered as individuals.

The same routine happens in the Bay Crits.

Mantova

Jason Bakker should be having puppies hearing Cadel’s big fail, commenting when he shouldn’t.

Ballan is now a convicted cheat, Cadel sullies his good name trying to defend him. Dopers can be nice blokes, and bad blokes, but they’re still dopers.

He’s been clearly identified (alongside Santambrogio no less) in the Mantova Investigation.